Insurance companies are real death panels

Wake up, people, we have silent death panels now.

When I hear the rhetoric regarding death panels should any public option pass, I stop and think of a story I recently heard from a real American calling into a radio talk show.

A young woman's husband who had an addiction problem entered a rehabilitation program. Halfway through his rehab, his insurance company canceled his policy saying they would not pay for the remaining rehabilitation and thus he had no choice but to leave the facility.

Because this young man's detoxification hadn't been completed, he suffered from liver failure. He now had no insurance coverage to admit himself into a hospital for the treatment his body so badly needed, and the young man died, leaving his young wife burdened with hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. This tragic story is one of millions. This man should not have died. We have death panels now. And the media should be ashamed of themselves for not covering more of these real stories from real Americans.

Lisa Goranson

Palatine